A theme park summer with Disney, Universal and more -- A Summer Series episode

Our theme parks reporter Jamie Biesiada was at Walt Disney World twice in May, and host Rebecca Tobin cruised on Disney Cruise Line's Disney Wish -- making it the perfect time to dig in on theme park changes, additions, Cool Kid Summer and our own personal recent experiences, from rides to resort r…

AI is changing how consumers research travel: A Summer Series episode

For a long time travel sites have tried to mimic how travel advisors qualify clients: How to present travel options and ideas to people who don’t know when or where they want to go -- often with varying results. But now some sites are now able to facilitate a conversation about travel inspiration t…

River cruise passengers are adding on extensive land trips

With Europe summer travel in full swing, it’s a good time to talk about building a river cruise vacation. Whether you’re an advisor with river-bound clients, or if you’re a traveler yourself, the cruise is likely is just part of a multicomponent trip with pre- and post-cruise tours or city stays kn…

Carnival's culinary concepts: How consumer preferences shape cruise dining

In June, Carnival Cruise Line held an event in New Orleans called The Next Course, where it introduced new restaurants and menus on its upcoming ship, the Carnival Festivale, and showcased its partnership with superstar chef Emeril Lagasse, the line’s chief culinary officer. It also served as a cha…

Is the era of self-driving cars here for the car-rental business?

We’re driving right into this one: The world of driverless cars, and how they’re already being integrated into rental car companies -- and how they might some day be integrated into rental car fleets. Host Rebecca Tobin, editor at large Robert Silk and Vik Krishnan, a senior partner at McKinsey & C…

LGBTQ+ travel: Expeditions, resiliency and new hotels in the 'gayborhood'

Just outside of Pride month we’re bringing together two reports on the latest in LGBTQ+ travel. In this year's Focus on LGBTQ+Travel cover story, editors Jamie Biesiada and Emma Weissmann spoke to four travel advisors who identified four key trends in this market: expeditions, traveling with family…

U.S. travel during America's 250: New tours, indigenous perspectives

We recently published an episode about the exciting opportunities around travel in the U.S. – travel surrounding the 250th anniversary celebrations, traveling along route 66, Americana and more. We bring that episode back to you today, but as a bonus, we’re including a discussion with two of our re…

How hotel brands are changing the face of luxury cruising

This new crop of ultra luxury cruise lines is fascinating, not just because many of them are associated with well known hotel brands, but because they’re appealing to a newer, younger demographic; one that might not have cruised -- or thought about cruising. What’s the appeal for them? In this epi…

Why U.S. hotels are performing so well right now

You might be surprised to hear it given some of the economic and geopolitical news this year, but the big news from the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Forum was a presentation from Jan Freitag, the national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar Group, and Adam Sacks, presid…

Theme park updates: Disney's cool kids, new rides, cruising and more

Our theme parks reporter Jamie Biesiada was at Walt Disney World twice last month, and host Rebecca Tobin cruised on Disney Cruise Line's Disney Wish -- making it the perfect time to dig in on theme park changes, additions, Cool Kid Summer and our own personal recent experiences, from rides to reso…